[Survival time of progressive systemic sclerosis patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs]

A retrospective analysis of survival time was carried out in 29 progressive systemic sclerosis patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs and in 15 patients who underwent another mode of treatment. It was found that fatality in both groups studied was the same (case fatality rate approximately 35%), but the mean survival time of those who had died was much longer for 10 patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs than for the 5 patients who had not undergone this mode of treatment (p less than 0.05). The cumulative survival rate evaluated at 5 years from the beginning of treatment was also higher in patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs (79.3%) than in the other group under investigation (66.7%). However the difference between these results was not statistically significant.